As I suspected.
DOA

Wow, I thought this thread was dead
I added and effects loop to mine. Can't say I ever use it though.
I also changed the bright cap value on the clean input as I mostly play tele's and found it a hair bright.
I am also running some mullard xf 2's,which IMO, helps to tame some harshness.
That's about it for me... I Don't gig with this amp at all...it's mostly my quick go to for basement jamming and noodling for me.

Drew

Jazzacast55,
Did you assemble this amp or did you get it assembled and shipped from Nik?
Did it come with the ceriatone trannies or did you put your own in there?
Do you have a digital multi meter to measure your plate voltage and bias?
If your bias is set incorrectly it could be the reason the amp breaks up early.
Regards,
Drew

Chuck,
Can you post some pics so we can see what is going on?
Thanks

Drew

Nice,
What is the status of the amp thus far? Is the gain channel working as of yet? What kind of input jack are you using?
Drew

Chuck,
Sure.
I am about an hour north of Toronto that's why I asked.
Have you built a lot of amps before this?
Drew

Chuck,
If that doesn't work post some pics of your inputs, preamp and pot wiring on your gain and master.
Where about are you located?
Drew

Chuckb,
If your clean channel loud and proud it may be that you have a weak solder somewhere or a grounding issue. Have you tried reflowing you solder joints especially around your gain channel inputs?
The volume of the gain channel comes on pretty quickly using the master and it's VERY loud.
Drew

T wilcox
There really is no clear answer to your question. I wish I could narrow it down to a clear winner in the other amps. I can tell you though that the Z Wreck does get a lot more attention both from me and fellow players. The Z Wreck is pretty awesome but it needs a lot of volume to bring that awesomeness out otherwise it kinda sounds a bit thin when quiet. I must confess I think this amp gets the majority of my playing time.

The Stangray does clean quite well and is probably a clear winner for straight up cleans.  Very bright with  a lot of jangle when using a tele. I would say this amp is built for Teles and it really brings out all things I love about teles- this amp should come with a warning...WARNING-you may find yourself playing a whole lot of country when using this amp- LOL!

I think the 5E7 is the coolest out of the lot when overdriven. Man... that think will make you play a whole lot of Pete Townsend and early who stuff. It has an airyness between the notes and killer sustain.

The 5E3, well it does the tweed thing pretty well and I bust it out from time to time but I don't find myself drawn to it- awesome amp though and I love it for its simplicity.

Hope this sheds light...
I can post some pics of the bunch if people want

SoundPerf,
I actually lent it out to a friend and he messed with the settings a whole lot. When I got the amp back he had left the volume fairly low and just cranked the Master. It was nearly impossible for me to get any good overdrives at this level! I just got frustrated and moved on.  Once I cranked the vol and lowered the master and turned off the bright and the deep.... thats when I realized how special this am really is.
I'm such a moron for not getting these settings right before.
Your so right in saying how sensitive the OD on this amp is to level settings as I finally get that now.

Hello,
I've been a member on this site for awhile now and never really had anything to say/post until now.
I built my OTS about 2 years ago and it was my first amp that I put together myself. I messed around with other amps doing cap jobs, resistor swaps and transformer upgrades before so I had time to practice my soldering skills.
I started researching amps online in an effort to find something different than everyone else was playing and that is what brought me to the "d" style amps.
After I built my OTS I enjoyed the clean sound I could get but I never could dial in the right settings on the OD so it kinda got sidelined as my Gear acquisition Syndrome grew, and grew rapidly. I ended up building a Tweed 5E3, Tweed 5E7, a couple Dr. Z's- Stangray and Z-wreck and most recently a BFDR. Needless to say my past two years have been kinda busy! To make a long story short I came back to the OTS recently cause I always felt a little let down by that project. I purchased a smartulator and then got a hold of the OTS manual and the reccomended settings and man !!  Now I know what I was missing this whole time.
Guitar-cable-OTS-smartulator-delay= WOW!!!


In the end everyone needs to experiment to find their own sound and I kinda get that now. I have acquired a lot of amps for my collection along the way and all of which do their own thing. My wife definitely thinks I have a problem but i'm lucky my musical friends appreciate it. LOL!!
For all those folks considering this amp out there: when dialed in,  this amp can hang with the best of em'.
It puts a smile on my face now every time I engage the OD for some lead tones.


Drew

Thanks for the help it is much appreciated as well as the quick response. I will definitely give it a shot.

Hi,
I am the proud owner of an Overdrive special w/ mercury irons.  I'm new to the forum but couldn't find a lot of info on the PI trim pot. I had my local amp tech check out my build and hey ok'd it but I am not sure if he noodled with the PI trim pot at all. Does any one have any recommended setting before I start messing with it? or any ideas of where it should be? Right now its sitting at around 12'o'clock.


Thanks